The Welfare of All Nations

A Land constantly under God your Lord’s scrutiny, the eyes of God your Lord are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.                          Deuteronomy 11:12

            Or haḤayyim comments that the words “your Lord” seem superfluous and was inserted to teach that the quality of God’s scrutiny of the Holy Land is a function of Israel’s presence therein.

The praise of the Land is when God attached his Lordship specifically over Israel, however, when Israel is exiled from its Land and the Shechina is not within them, the praise of the Land is diminished.

            Rashi, in commenting on the verse quotes Midrash Sifrei:,

Is God’s scrutiny not over all lands, as it is written [Job 38:26] “To cause it to rain on a land where no man is?” Rather, as it were, He scrutinizes only her (the Holy Land), and through that scrutiny he looks after all other lands with her.

            Combining the two comments leads to the conclusion that the welfare of all nations requires that Israel be within its Land.